Chapter Four
Sara had heard Grissom call after her, but she hadn't stopped. She'd kept going, out onto the street. She'd driven to work herself that night, but she didn't go to her car. Instead she just walked. Where to, she didn't know. She didn't really care, either.
She'd only been outside for five minutes when the sky opened up and it began to pour. More tears that she didn't know she'd been holding back came crashing down with the water from the sky, mixing salty tears with fresh rain water. Even over the sudden thunder and lightening, she heard someone call her name.
"Sara!"
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Grissom had followed the way Sara had gone but hadn't found her, so he went outside. It was pouring rain when he finally spotted her, and it was three blocks from the lab.
"Sara!" he called again. "Sara!"
She slowly turned, as if she were moving in Jell-O. She recognized Grissom and turned away. She started to walk away from him, but couldn't. She couldn't do to him what he had done to her. So she stopped, but did not turn around. She would wait for Grissom, as she had done countless times before.
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He'd seen her turn away; seen the look in her eyes, even from where he had been standing. And it broke his heart to see her like that, to see her remembering. She was remembering him saying no, that he couldn't be with her. She'd asked him out for dinner, and he'd rather sharply declined. He'd had to tell her without words that he wouldn't be with her, and that he wouldn't and didn't love her; something which he so desperately wanted to do, and did. She'd walked out of his office that night with the same look in her eyes. He didn't know what had brought it back out tonight, but he was determined to find out.
"Sara," he called out for the fourth time. "Are you alright?" He walked towards her, the rain still coming down around them.
She finally turned back around, tears still streaming down her face. "Grissom, why?"
Grissom had no idea what she was talking about, but walked towards her, arms outstretched. "Why what, honey?" he asked. His hands found their way around her shoulders again, holding her in place. She tried to say something, but ended up bursting into tears all over again, and collapsed into him. He didn't know why she was crying, and he didn't know how to help her.
He did his best to console her, rubbing his hands up and down her back, saying, "Sara, honey, calm down. It's okay, I'm here." He held her close, his face in her wet hair. "Shh… honey…"
He slowly turned her around, and took her hand. They needed to get out of the rain. He started walking to the nearest place he could see. A hotel. It wasn't one of those nice ones like on the Strip, but it was good enough, considering the situation they were in. He gently guided her into the building, soaking wet and cold.
At the front desk, he asked for a suite. "A room for one night, please," he said, handing the woman his credit card.
The woman behind the desk - her nameplate said Dorthy - looked at Grissom disbelievingly. The woman with him was gorgeous and young, and he was old and okay-looking. It didn't make sense. She shook her head. What some people would do for some action was lost on her.
"Here you are sir," she said, handing two room keys to him. "Have a pleasant stay."
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Grissom led Sara to the elevators on the other side of the lobby. "What are we doing?" she asked slowly, looking around. "And where are we?"
"We're going to our hotel room," he answered, pressing the up button. "And we're at the Hills Hotel."
"Why?"
"Because it was closer than the lab," he explained, squeezing her hand. "And I really didn't want to walk back there in the pouring rain. How about you?" She shook her head slightly. "And… the other reason is that we can start over here. We've both spent amounts of time at each other's places, so this is new."
"Start over?" she asked, looking wary. "Start over on what?"
Grissom squeezed her hand again. "Let's just wait till we get to the room, okay? Then we'll talk."
A/N 2: I know it says that Grissom is "okay-looking", but I have to tell you, if I was a desk clerk and he walked in, I'd be jealous as hell of any woman with him. Grissom is not just "okay-looking". He's freakin' hot! Ladies, I know you agree! So, William Petersen and Jorja Fox, if you are reading this, I think you are incredibly sexy and absolutely gorgeous, respectively. ;-)